La Crosse’s Chileda provides children with essential learning skills

While school’s out for summer, some students experience mild academic regression and must work to catch up when they return to the classroom in the fall. But for children with autism spectrum or attachment disorders, summer school programs are essential to provide the structure and consistency they need to maintain not only their learning skills, but their social and personal skills as well.

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are helping such students to stay on track by awarding a ministry grant to Chileda—a nonprofit organization in La Crosse, Wis., that supports children and young adults with developmental disabilities—for its summer school program. The program has become a vital resource for many local school districts’ special education services, is growing each year to accommodate more referrals, and is reliant upon the financial support of FSPA and other agencies to do so. “FSPA helps to continue this collaborative venture with other county and state services, enabling Chileda to assist more children,” says grant sponsor Sister Mary Kathryn Fogarty. “We are blessed to have the dedicated expertise of Chileda’s staff in our community.”

Many parents of Chileda’s summer school students undoubtedly agree. One mother says that enrolling her son in the program “has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. He progresses faster in three months during the summer at Chileda than in his own school setting.”